Time to go over what I think about the Super Bowl this weekend.
Pittsburgh is part of a dynasty of about 4-5 teams in the AFC that have dominated the NFL landscape for the last 10+ years. These teams are always pretty good, always in the playoffs, and almost always in the Super Bowl and tend to win those games although many of them were quite close. Those teams include New England, Indianapolis, Baltimore, and the San Diego Chargers. The Bolts never went to a Super Bowl but they are 76-36 since 2004. Baltimore has 104 wins since 2000, 1 Super Bowl ring, and they play in the same division as Pittsburgh. The Colts are 138-54 over the past 12 seasons with 2 Super Bowl trips and 1 ring. And finally the Patriots are 121-39 since 2001 with 4 trips to the Super Bowl and 3 rings to show for it as well as going perfect in the 2007 regular season. Add all that up and you have a very tough division and conference that Pittsburgh must navigate thru on a yearly basis. And they themselves have complied a 106-59 record over the last 10 years with 2 Super Bowl rings and this year making their 3rd trip inside of 6 years to the big game. Why do I emphasize this you ask?
Because when you go thru the history of the NFL and you look at teams in the 70s like Miami, Pitt, and Oakland which all won Super Bowls and you look at the competition they had to go thru with each other, it made them all stronger. Go to the 80s thru the mid-90s and it becomes the SF 49ers, Washington Redskins, NY Giants, and the Dallas Cowboys…they pushed each other to greatness. They had to be dominant to beat out the other teams in their conferences just to get to the Super Bowl.
I don’t really care to get in depth about the Steelers defense and the spread offense and the match up or headache it creates. I have seen the Green Bay Packers before in the Super Bowl and it includes teams like the Minnesota Vikings in the 70s, The Dan Marino Miami Dolphins of the 80s, the Buffalo Bills in the 90s, the point is I have seen this system or heralded type team before. Fans, media, and yes even this board has Aaron Rodgers on the brain and thinks he can win the game almost by himself; he’s the difference for this betting line right now. People are pointing to a game in the regular season last year or the year before and I just don’t think it makes a bit of difference this coming weekend.
Another key stat to me is that Pittsburgh has 38 players on their roster that have played in a Super Bowl before, and Green Bay has 2. There are clear examples of teams that didn’t have a lot of playoff or Super Bowl experience that were able to win a Super Bowl, I get that. But it makes a difference for a team like Pittsburgh.
Along the way this past decade we have seen a couple hiccups like the Giants in 2007 and New Orleans last year beating a veteran team like Indy but I think everyone agrees that coaching made a big difference and why Indy didn’t win it again last season when they stopped playing after starting 14-0 or whatever…you don’t put the brakes on something like that. I believe if Green Bay were to win this game it would be an upset despite the point spread.
Please let me say to the Green Bay Nation and some of the great posters we have on this board…don’t feel like you need to plaster a lot of stats on the season or convince me how good Rodgers is, or defend your Packers, I’ve been watching the playoffs and I understand. The reality is that this team was
8-6 and on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs and then as Rodgers has said thru the media have ripped off 5 in a row when they were on the cusp of elimination. They got hot at the right time but this is far from a dominating team. I think they will be good for years to come, have a strong nucleus but the reality is they are not operating at 100%. They have no TE to hurt the Steelers with, they are not rolling the same quality of RB as Mendenhall out there; they simply are not. Anyone know btw who Mendenhall’s OC coached about 2 decades ago? I saw Mendenhall really attack the defenses in the playoffs and his OC was the RB coach for the KC Chiefs in the Christian Okoye era and I swear you could see a little Nigerian nightmare out there the past couple weeks. James Starks is a nice story but Mendenhall is a huge advantage in the running game.
I expect a war whether Green Bay wants it or not. I expect Pittsburgh to shut the running game off almost completely for Green Bay. If the Packers muster 60 yards rushing I would be surprised. Once the game turns into Rodgers dropping back all the time the Steelers will smell blood in the water and bring the house. Rodgers will not have time to progress thru his reads and I think the game will become very one sided once that happens. Pittsburgh has won 2 Super Bowls by pretty close margins. I can understand why folks feel this game will be close but I expect Pittsburgh to be ahead by double digits come the 2nd half going into the 4th Q.
The game will open with both teams trying to figure the other one out and sort of like jabs in a heavyweight fight. I expect Green Bay to get a little lucky and create a big play fairly early in the game. I’ll say 7-3 Green Bay after the 1st Q. The 2nd Q Pittsburgh will get the upper hand and Green Bay will manage a FG so we have a 13-10 score at the half. The 3rd Q I expect Pittsburgh to dominate and I see something like 27-13 entering the 4th Q. In the 4th Green Bay will score a TD and make it a 1 score game but Pittsburgh will find enough to ice the game and I am calling for a final score of roughly 30-20 in favor of Pittsburgh and I see their defense with at least 1 score and possibly setting up a short field.
So can Green Bay win the game? I don’t think the chances are very high but they absolutely must play mistake free football and they also have to score I believe twice on some busted coverage. If they get spotted something like 14 and then don’t turn the ball over I would say they have a chance but Green Bay having a chance vs a dynasty team like Pittsburgh that I can get +2.5 even today…sorry but I am all over Pittsburgh in this contest so I take the Steelers and the +2.5.
Again, to my Green Bay friends, just enjoy the game and should you all win you can come in and rub my nose in it, I’ll be happy to eat crow come Sunday Night/Monday Morning. But for now I have a call in to Brinks and we are going to
Back the Truck Up!!!
Final Score: Pittsburgh 30...Green Bay 20
Cheers